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Heat people, not spaces (2015)

solar.lowtechmagazine.com

211–220 of 335 posts

Re: Heat people, not spaces (2015)

#211
hey this is the article/magazine i got the ideas to use bitcoin-type miners for heating my greenhouse and home, as well as incandescent lighting for heat.

Technology Connections had an aside on the heat pump video about how in the northern US doing away with incandescent lighting has probably meant more CO2 in the air overall, since every "wasteful" bulb also puts heat in a room, reducing overall heating load while providing something useful, visible light. LEDs are 20-33 times more efficient than incandescent, but now your heating system has to make up that lost wattage.

Sure, in the south, i literally only use inefficient bulbs to heat. I prefer LED for everything except slow motion video, in all other areas i find it superior lighting. I do find that large CFLs last 8 years outdoors, so i have two of those for my porches. I haven't found any comparable LED.

On the cold days (like this past day has been), I wish i had more floor standing lights with incandescents in them!

Re: Heat people, not spaces (2015)

#212

One concept I've toyed with for a while is a laser blanket. A ceiling mounted infrared camera measures the temperature across your body, and an infrared laser automatically goes and "paints" any part that is insufficiently warm. No idea if it would be comfortable at all, but fun project.

Since you're using lasers, how would you keep from damaging the subject's eyes if they accidentally get their face in the path of the beam?

I suppose you could defocus it a bit so that it hits a biggish spot.

Re: Heat people, not spaces (2015)

#213
post #60

An issue with keeping yourself warm with clothing is some hotspots get too warm, and others too cold. Like the armpits usually get too warm, but your exposed hands too cold. If your slippers have sheep's wool in them, like ugg slippers, then they often sweat a lot or feel a little wet while simultaneously feeling cold at times, or warm enough. Most sweaters are also not designed to keep your armpits a little bit cool…

> If your slippers have sheep's wool in them

I worked in an ice cream factory for a bit, was hard to find socks/shoes that would keep you warm not sweat/freeze. That job was wild like nostrils frozen, break every 45 mins.

Re: Heat people, not spaces (2015)

#214

I'm in UK (south east). I work in tech, working from home. I very rarely put the heating on. The best part of not putting the heating on is that I've had my garden doors open almost every day through the winter. I mostly work at my laptop, just inside sitting on a comfy sofa, right next to the outdoors. In December I was mostly opening the doors about midday just for the afternoon, but since mid to late January I'm b…

The temperature in the UK this winter was the warmest ever recorded. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/jan/03/why-has-uk-w...

Re: Heat people, not spaces (2015)

#215
post #60

An issue with keeping yourself warm with clothing is some hotspots get too warm, and others too cold. Like the armpits usually get too warm, but your exposed hands too cold. If your slippers have sheep's wool in them, like ugg slippers, then they often sweat a lot or feel a little wet while simultaneously feeling cold at times, or warm enough. Most sweaters are also not designed to keep your armpits a little bit cool…

I've found quality wool garments to be very helpful. Examples: A thick wool "cable knot" sweater is both warm and highly breathable, ideal for hiking. Wool socks (and/or wool felt slippers when it's very cold) keep feet warm without any of the clamminess (or smell) associated with cotton or synthetics. Merino wool underwear has similar benefits. The price is higher compared to cotton or synthetics, but it's possible…

When I'm active outside in the winter I always wear a thin layer of wool as the inner layer, medium thick wool socks and a wool sweater. Over that I use shell clothing like gore-tex jacket and pants. As long as I'm active I will not freeze even if temperatures reaches -20C. If I'm out and about, f.ex. a long ski trip, I will bring a down jacket in my backpack that I will wear over the shell jacket when pausing to eat. Our kids wear wool inner layer, fleece mid layer and a insulated shell "one-piece" when they are out in the snow. Mostly because they often just sit down to play. If they were active all the time mid layer wouldn't be necessary.

Also found that it's perfectly OK to wear thin wool inner layer all the time. It doesn't really get too warm as long as you don't wear warm clothes over.

Re: Heat people, not spaces (2015)

#216
post #135
post #60

An issue with keeping yourself warm with clothing is some hotspots get too warm, and others too cold. Like the armpits usually get too warm, but your exposed hands too cold. If your slippers have sheep's wool in them, like ugg slippers, then they often sweat a lot or feel a little wet while simultaneously feeling cold at times, or warm enough. Most sweaters are also not designed to keep your armpits a little bit cool…

I think you can help your body regulate the temperature and even sweat. There's the old saying: "cold feet? wear a hat." dress with the right layers. I always put a layer of synthetic beneath cotton. Nice socks help your body deal with cold quite dramatically. "Darn Tough" brand merino wool socks are pretty exceptional socks that keep your feet warm and (importantly) dry.

Try wool instead of synthetics as inner layer.

Re: Heat people, not spaces (2015)

#217
Modern saunas that use infrared bulbs (radiation transfer) to sweat you claim to be better than traditional saunas which use use steam (conduction transfer then convection transfer). I’m still not sure which one gives the most benefit/least harm.

Re: Heat people, not spaces (2015)

#218

I'm in UK (south east). I work in tech, working from home. I very rarely put the heating on. The best part of not putting the heating on is that I've had my garden doors open almost every day through the winter. I mostly work at my laptop, just inside sitting on a comfy sofa, right next to the outdoors. In December I was mostly opening the doors about midday just for the afternoon, but since mid to late January I'm b…

In continental Europe (Germany, specifically is where I have experience), most apartments are so well insulated that they don't even get significantly cold without the heat on. I often travel in winter, and have come back home, say, mid-February after a month away, and my apartments have never been lower than 15º C (about 60º F) inside. (Admittedly, it'd be colder if everyone in the building had their heat off.) That's very easy to deal with with no heating. Though, like most schmucks, I do use my heating to get it up to more normal inside temperatures.

Re: Heat people, not spaces (2015)

#219
post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Problem: Modern laptops like the macbook run cold. Maybe future node versions can address this.

Are new the macbooks really running cold? I haven't used the arm models but the intel ones would always seem to be warm with that lava hot spot on the bottom no matter the state of the fans.

For normal web browser usage, they are basically completely cold. For full docker nodejs webpack development they are a little warm just above the keyboard but only barely noticeable. For gaming running the system at max for prelonged periods they get “hot” but it’s more like just a bit over warm. They never get lava hot like the intel MacBooks did.
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